Toby, a fun-loving Labrador, was a beloved member of the Murphy household. So, when the family noticed patches of hair loss and red, itchy skin on his paws and legs, they were concerned. Still, they thought: “All dogs get itchy sometimes.” A medicated shampoo and a modified diet seemed to help.

But by the following winter, Toby’s condition worsened. He began losing more hair around his head, dropped weight rapidly and his lymph nodes became swollen. The family sought further veterinary help. Blood tests and tissue samples revealed something unexpected: Leishmania infantum, a parasite typically found in southern Europe, transmitted by the bite of sand flies.

Toby had never left the UK, but his owners had visited the Jalón Valley, Spain just months earlier. Toby hadn’t gone with them, but the possibility arose: could an infected sand fly or contaminated item have made its way back in luggage or belongings? Toby was treated and recovered well.

This is an adapted version of one of just three recorded cases of leishmaniasis in UK dogs since 2019. Canine leishmaniasis causes chronic, sometimes fatal disease in dogs and can infect humans, particularly those with a weakened immune system. Once confined to the Mediterranean basin, it is now spreading northwards through Europe.

One growing concern in both the veterinary parasitology and public health sector is vector-borne disease (illness spread by arthropods like flies, ticks and mosquitoes). These diseases don’t respect borders; instead, they migrate with

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